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Samsung Genio Touch Review

Author Niall Magennis
Published 18th Nov 2009
Manufacturer Samsung
Supplier O2
Price £78.28 on PAYG. Free on £19.58/mo contract
Latest Price Click here
Design Score 7 for Design
Features Score 6 for Features
Performance Score 7 for Performance
Value Score 8 for Value
Overall Score 7 for Overall
Samsung Genio Touch
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It's pretty evident from the three swappable covers included in the box and the social networking widgets loaded on the phone that Samsung is targeting the 'yoof' market with the Genio Touch.

As the name suggests this handset is designed to be driven almost entirely from its 2.8in touchscreen. However, by touchscreen standards the handset is relatively small. It's a good deal shorter and narrower than the iPhone for example, but this helps it feel more comfortable to hold in your hand and means it'll slide easily into even the tightest pockets of your skinny jeans.


In terms of design it's a lot closer to the Palm Pre than the iPhone, as its rounded shape means it's got a similar pebble-like appearance. It's not exactly overloaded with physical buttons, as it instead lets the touchscreen take most of the strain, but you do get dedicated call handling buttons on the front as well as a volume rocker switch and a camera button on the side.

In fact, our only real niggle about the design is that Samsung has hidden the microSD card slot under the battery cover. Thankfully you don't actually have to remove the battery to get at it, but it's still not the ideal location as it makes it cumbersome to hot swap cards.

The phone's interface is well thought out and quite easy to use. For example, there are three home screens that you access by swiping your finger left or right across the screen and each of these screens can be assigned its own wallpaper.


These home screens are the place where you store the phone's active widgets, which are accessed via a small tab that's always visible on the left hand side of the display. Open the tab and you're presented with a single column of widgets that you can scroll up and down through. When you find a widget you want to use you just drag it to the right to add it to your home screen. It's all pretty straightforward stuff.

There are a decent number of widgets loaded as standard on the phone, although some do duplicate the same functionality. For example, there are three different types of clock. Nevertheless, there are still plenty of useful ones including one for viewing photos from Picasa along with the obligatory Facebook, Twitter and MySpace widgets that seem to be becoming standard on youth orientated phones.

In the main menu you'll find plenty of useful apps including a decent calendar along with the FM radio tuner, RSS reader and a Java version of Googlemaps. There are also some nice touches dotted around the phone's interface including a rather neat 3D carousel menu that uses a picture to represent each of your contacts.

 

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comment lifethroughalens said on 18th November 2009

@Fireshade - The iPhone has become a universally accepted unit of measurement now, like the centimetre, the yard, Belgium and Wales :)

ie 'I'm 16.5 iphones tall'

comment drdark said on 19th November 2009

It's terrible of me to ask this here, but I'm in a hurry, and scared of the Forums...
When can we expect an E72 review? :-D

comment speedyg2012 said on 25th November 2009

Not a fan of it tbh, looks quite tacky for the teen market. (circa 2000-04 and the infamous nokia 'express on covers...)

comment Tim Bain said on 19th December 2009

I just won one of these little things, it's a long way from tacky..in fact it's solid and well built compared to most mobiles...it's also a really handy size and nice to use.
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